Improved machine for amalgamating gold



F. N. DU BOIS.

Ore Amalgamator.

Patnted Apr. 15, 1862.

II I Inventor: f/QM AM. FHUTO-LITHO,C0.N.Y. (OSBURNE'S PROCESS.)

Witnesses-= UNITED STATES F. N.-DU BOIS, OF

PATENT OFFICE.

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 34,948, dated April 15, 1862.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, F. N. DU BOIS, of Ohicago, in the county of Cook, in the State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement on a Machine for Amalgamating Gold; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon.

Figure 1 represents a side elevation. Fig 2 represents a plan. Fig. 3 represents a transverse section.

Similar letters and figures of reference in each of the several figures indicate corresponding parts.

The nature of my invention consists, first, in the use of the amalgamating-cylinder A, substantially the same as those in use in Germany for extracting silver from its ore; second, in the hopper-shaped receptacle B, fixed stationary below the cylinder, for the purpose of receiving the contents of the cylinder when sufficiently amalgamated; third, in the conical feed-valve O and its pipe 1, for the purpose of discharging a continuous stream of the amalgamated ore from the bottom of the hopper; and, fourth, in the swinging vibrating sluice D, for the purpose of separating and collecting the mercury from the amalgamated ore.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

The cylinder A, being of any convenient size, is to be revolved upon journals in the line of its axis by means of any suitable appliance--either a belt or co -wheels. This cylinder is to be filled to about half of its capacity with pulverized ore, the ore being put in through the opening 6. A sufficient quantity of water is then put in to reduce the ore to such soft and semi-fluid condition that when the cylinder is revolved it will constantly rise with the rising side of the cylinder and slide down'upon and through itself in such manner as to form a most perfect admixture of the ore. When the ore is of the proper consistency, a quantity of mercury, in the proportion of from one to two pounds of mercury to each cubic foot of ore, is then i11- troduced and the opening 6 is tightly closed by means of the cap and cross-bar 7. The

cylinder is now revolved at such speed that its periphery will move about one hundred and fifty feet per minute. This operation is continued from three to ten hours, or more, as the nature of the ore may require more or less amalgamation. The amalgamation is effected inside of the cylinder as follows: The constant motion or attrition between the sharp particles of ore and the gold it contains, caused by the rotation of the cylinder, has the effect to scour and brighten all the small particles of gold, which were previously covered with a chemical coating of such nature as to preventits combining with mercury, which mercury, by the rotation of and completely diffused through the whole mass of the ore in the cylinder, so that it is everywhere present to absorb and take up the particles of gold. After the cylinder has revolved till all the gold is taken up by the mercury the cap 7 is removed and the c011- tents of the cylinder are discharged into the hopper B. The gold is now held in a state of amalgam in the mercury, and the next part of the process is to separate and collect the mercury from the ore, which is accomplished by running the ore in a constant stream from the bottom of the hopper B through the conical feed-valve C, where it is largely diluted with water. This feed-valve O is constructed with a cone attached to the lower end of a spindle or rod 8. The cone has its point turned upward, and the upper end of the spindle terminates in a screw that passes through a stationary nut and is turned by means of a handle above the nut.

To set the valve in operation, water is first allowed to flow through the pipe 1 and through its two branches at the bottom of it, so as to discharge one stream on each side of the cone, and these streams are to be inclined, so that when the valve is open the water will wash out the ore, which by its own weight will descend to the bottom of the hopper for that purpose, and the amount thus washed out depends upon the size of the opening in the valve, which may be regulated as the oper ator desires by screwing the cone up or down. The water answers the twofold purpose of washing down as much (he as is needed and at'the same time diluting it for the purpose of collecting the mercury in the sluice. The

the cylinder, is divided into small globules sluice D is constructed so as to swing or vibrate sidewise,and the bottom of it is so curved as to form the segment of a circle the center of which is at the points 9 9, upon which it swings by means of the fastenings 5 5', and the power to vibrate it may be attached and communicated through the fastening 5, connected with the middle of the sluice. On the inside of the sluice are a number of transverse partitions that are made very low in the center, andlover which all the ore and water has to flow. The bottom of the sluice is made of mercurialized copper for the purpose of arresting and holding the small globules of mercury. The object of making the sluicebottom like the segment of a circle is to enable the vibratory motion simply ,to shake the ore without throwing it up or down, thus giving it the same motion that the ore would receive in the common miners pan. As the water washes out the ore from the valve C it all falls together into the trough 10 and flows into the upper end of the sluice D, the vibratory motion of which causes the small particles of mercury to settle through the ore to the surface of the mercurialized copper, where it adheres and runs down and collects against and above the partitions, while the .ore and water pass along out of the lower through buckskin or coarse canvas, and the remaining amalgam is then distilled and the used before by the Germans for collecting silver from its ore. They collect the mercury by I the year 1862. gold left'ready for use. This process, so far as I the revolving cylinder is concerned, has been filling the cylinder full of water and revolving it very slow for a few hours, which enables the mercury to collect, inasmuch as the silver ore is not very heavy; but as this machine is operated principally on the very heavy auriferouspyrites of iron it is found that by reason of the much greater specific gravity of the pyrites of iron the mercury will .not collect in the cylinder, as it does in the What I do claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The conicalfeed-valve O,with its .at-

tached water :pipe 1, substantially as described, and for the purpose set forth;

'2. The swinging vibratory sluice D, possessing the distinctive feature of its being swung upon the center from which the bottom of the sluice is struck, substantially as described, and for the purpose set forth.

3. The use of conical feed valve 0 and sluice D, in combination with cylinder A, for

the purpose of completing" a new and useful process in amalgamating gold, substantially Y as described and set forth.

This above specific'ationof my improvement on machine for amalgamating gold signed by me this 19th day of February, in

.F. N. DU BOIS. Witnesses:

HENRY MOORE,

O. CHAUNCEY. 

